Doublejump Digest: February 9, 2020

This week in gaming: GeForce Now takes on Google Stadia, Rockstar Games loses a key figure, Ubisoft plans major titles for players, and more!

In the spirit of keeping our readers up to date with what’s happening in the video game industry, the Doublejump Digest is a brief collection of the major news stories from the past week. Keep an eye out for the Digest every Sunday night, and head on into the archive for news from weeks gone by!

MAJOR NEWS

NVIDIA positions GeForce Now as Google Stadia competitor with new update:

NVIDIA has officially taken its cloud-based streaming service GeForce Now out of beta following almost eight years of testing. The service, which is poised to compete with Google Stadia and Microsoft xCloud, is powered by servers using the company’s Pascal and Turing-based graphics hardware and now allows users to play games that are already part of their own Steam and Uplay libraries.

GeForce Now will come in two tiers: a Free one and a Founders (US$4.99/month) one. The former will give users access to one-hour daily sessions subject to wait times while the latter will provide shorter queue times, six-hour daily sessions, RTX-enabled graphics, and a 90-day trial period.

NVIDIA has not announced an Australian rollout as of this writing.

One of Rockstar Games’s founders is leaving the company:

Parent company Take-Two Interactive has revealed that Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser will leave the New York-based publisher on March 11 following a year-long “extended break”. Houser, who founded Rockstar Games with his brother Sam, has been involved in all of the publisher’s main releases, whether as a writer, producer, or director.

Ubisoft plans to release 5 AAA games by April 2021:

According to industry insider Shinobi602, Ubisoft has told investors that the French publisher is planning to release five major titles by the end of its next financial year (April 2021). Three of these titles – Gods & Legends, Watch_Dogs Legion, and Rainbow Six Quarantine – are due between October and December, while the last two titles are unannounced titles from its “biggest franchises”. Kotaku’s Jason Screier later reported that his sources point to these final titles being ones from Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry.

Phil Spencer: Google and Amazon are our real competitors:

Speaking with Protocol, Microsoft Executive VP of Gaming Phil Spencer has noted that his company doesn’t see Sony and Nintendo as its main competitors in the era of cloud-based game streaming going mainstream.

“When you talk about Nintendo and Sony, we have a ton of respect for them, but we see Amazon and Google as the main competitors going forward,” he said. “That’s not to disrespect Nintendo and Sony, but the traditional gaming companies are somewhat out of position. I guess they could try to recreate Azure, but we’ve invested tens of billions of dollars in cloud over the years.”

He added that Microsoft is open to working with either company when it comes to cross-platform play, but that it’s main focus is the likes of Amazon and Google who are “focussing on how to get gaming to 7 billion people around the world”.

NOTABLE GAME RELEASES

Zombie Army 4: Dead War (PC, PS4, & Xbox One)

VIDEOS AND TRAILERS

Apex Legends Season 4 – Assimilation Gameplay Trailer:

Is anyone else as excited as we are?

Meet Revenant – Apex Legends Character Trailer:

Death, personified.

Assetto Corsa Competizione – Introducing Mount Panorama Circuit:

Kunos Simulazioni has recreated our legendary mountain circuit.

Street Fighter V: Champion Edition – Seth Gameplay Preview:

Seth is back, and she means business.

Atomic Heart – Official Gameplay Teaser:

What the hell is going on here?

Zombie Army 4: Dead War – Launch Trailer:

Hitler’s horrific horde hasn’t halted its haunt.

OTHER NEWS

Rod Fergusson has left Microsoft to take on Diablo development at Blizzard: Eurogamer

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